Moscow will not even discuss the criteria for removing anti-Russian sanctions with Washington, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov, said in an interview with the PIR Center’s Security Index magazine.
“We will not ask them to cancel (sanctions) or even discuss the criteria for lifting them, we have never done this before,” he said.
Speaking about the idea of lifting the sanctions in return for nuclear arms reduction, Ryabkov said that it is “totally unworkable.” Firstly, we do not discuss the sanctions and will not discuss them,” he said. “Secondly, how can we “exchange” the removal of sanctions for disarmament?”
“It turns out that we have to disarm unilaterally. This is a total non-starter,” he added.